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The Dart is a weekly feature in which reporters throw a dart at a map of Stamford and then go out in search of a story. This week the dart landed on Nobile Street on the city's West Side.

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STAMFORD -- Maybe the real reason Bridgewater Associates is moving to Stamford is to get closer to the cookies.

The Westport hedge fund, which is eyeing South End waterfront for its new headquarters, gets its sandwich and cookie platters delivered daily from a quiet, nondescript West Side neighborhood. The Dart landed on Nobile Street this week, and the smell of pesto sauce lured The Advocate around the corner, to the Aux Delices kitchen on Acosta Street.

Samantha Crecco, customer coordinator with MetroWine, said she smells the cooking every morning as she walks into her office building across the street.

"I like when the cookies are going," she said.

Gregory Addonizio owns Aux Delices with his wife, chef and cookbook author Debra Ponzek. The couple, who met at the Culinary Institute of America in 1982, opened their first French cafe in Riverside in 1995. They launched the Stamford kitchen in 2002 and now run four Aux Delices restaurants across lower Fairfield County. The Westport cafe, the only location offering dinner service, opened June 1.

On Tuesday morning, the kitchen on Acosta Street was buzzing with activity as the staff of 14 bustled around the large open space. A chef carefully arranged empanadas on a baking sheet while other workers chopped vegetables and stirred a huge vat of sauce. On the floor, large metal cylinders used to wash lettuce hummed and shook like laundry machines.

"We always have rolling racks of croissants and pastries coming out," Ponzek said. "The whole bakery smells like butter in the morning, which is awesome. It's really bustling."

Aux Delices' beef bourguignon, chocolate mousse and other menu items are prepared each morning on Acosta Street and then delivered to corporate and private catering clients. The large warehouse-style kitchen is divided into two parts: salty and sweet. On the pastry side, executive chef Cyril Chaminade oversees operations.

"We don't use any mix so we need a lot of people to make everything from scratch," Chaminade said. "It's always busy in here."

The bakery buys in bulk. Chaminade said his kitchen uses 2,500 eggs, 600 pounds of sugar, 600 pound of flour and about 500 pounds of butter each week. On Tuesday, the bakery was busy making 100 pounds of macaroons for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

"The ethnicity and culture of our clients dictates what we do," he said. "We have a big Jewish community around us."

Chaminade, a former chef for Francois Payard in Manhattan, comes from a long line of Parisian pastry chefs. Aux Delices is a French-themed kitchen, but the majority of its staff speaks Spanish.

"It's very representative of kitchens across the U.S," Chaminade said. "Most of the staff is from Central or South America. They're really the backbone of the business."

Carmen Pinde, who came to the United States from Ecuador in 2001, has been with Aux Delices for 11 years. She started as a dishwasher before moving into the pastry department, where she is now a manager.

On Tuesday, Pinde was overseeing the assembly of strawberry tartlettes. After years in the kitchen, she has stopped snacking on the pastries, she said.

"In the beginning you do," Pinde said, with Chaminade acting as interpreter. "Now I barely eat any pastries. I'm just sugared out."